Kangra Valley Railway
The Kangra Valley Railway was a 2ft 6in/762mm narrow gauge(NG) mountain railway branch of North Western Railway(NWR), climbing from the Punjab plains up into hills of [Mandi State] . The Pathankot to Nagrota section, 68 miles(108 km) opened in 1928 and Nagrota to Joginder Nagar section, 36 miles(57 km) in 1929. [1] [2]
The gauge is 2 ft. 6 in., and, though the ruling grade over a part of its length is 1 in 50, it has a final ascent of some miles at 1 in 25. The principal feature of this line is the heavy bridging involved almost throughout ; the aggregate length of the steel girder bridges is 11,000 ft. Among other bridges is the first steel arch in India, known as the Reond Arch. It bridges a cleft in the hills 200 ft. deep with two 40-ft. approach spans and a single main span, with a steel arch, 180 ft. long. This arch was made entirely in India. The delicate operation of erection was successfully carried out by the Bridge Department of the North Western Railway.
During the Second World War, a number of uneconomic lines were dismantled and material was shipped for British operations in the Middle East. The Nagrota to Joginder Nagar section was dismantled and operations were closed in 1942. (Reopened 1954)
Records
An on-line search of the India Office Records (IOR) records held at the British Library relating to this railway [3] gives the following:-
- L/F/7/2202; "Collection 370/46: Railways: Miscellaneous: Kangra Valley Railway, construction estimates"; 1927-31
- Mss Eur F290/24; "Papers regarding the Kalka-Simla and Kangra Valley Railways"; 1970-73. This must relate to the section of the railway that reopened in 1954 - further investigation is required.
Further Information
References
- ↑ Wikipedia "Kangra Valley Railway"; Retrieved 12 Dec 2015
- ↑ Indian Express Newspaper "Kangra Valley Railway" Thu May 21 2009; Retrieved 12 Dec 2015
- ↑ “British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue” - Search; Retrieved 8 Apr 2016
